Category: Detoxification

Recently, I have been fielding a lot of questions about heavy metals in chocolate (often referred to as heavy toxins). Food safety can be a depressing topic. Rice has arsenic, most fish contain mercury (some more than others), shrimp have arsenic, leafy greens take up cadmium from the soil, about 30% of the tap water in the US contains lead, and many foods are contaminated with pesticides, molds, and other heavy metals. As many of you have heard, some brands of chocolate tested by Consumer Reports contained alarming levels of lead and cadmium. “Consumer reports tested 28 dark chocolate bars for lead and cadmium. To determine the risk posed by the chocolates in CR’s test, we used California's maximum allowable dose level (MADL) for lead (0.5 micrograms) and cadmium (4.1mcg)” You can ask a chocolate company to provide third-party testing to see the lead and cadmium levels.  Because there are no federal limits on the amount of lead and cadmium that foods may contain, scientists at Consumer Reports used California’s maximum allowable dose level. They did this because they felt as though it was the most scientifically valid. Rather than list all the brands including the levels of lead and...

By Kirsten West ND, Lac, FABNO Like many of you, my thoughts regarding farms (at least in the past) typically transitioned into images of red barns, green pastures, the solitary cow (or two), perhaps some chickens, rows of corn, birds chirping- basically, an overall picture of serenity. In fact, living next to a scene such as this appears quite nice. Most recently, this “farm life” image has been turned on its head with the development of what is now called a CAFO. Quite frankly, not only would I not want one next door but I would prefer to be several miles (at least 60) away from one. First, let us start with what CAFO means. A CAFO stands for a Concentrated Animal Farming Operation. You may ask what this has to do with health and most importantly why, I am writing about it… hold on to your seats. CAFOs are multiplying across the country. They are considered a specific type of large-scale industrial agricultural facility that raises animals in high density for the consumption of animal products (meat, eggs, or milk). Notably, there is typically little to no horticulture. It has been argued that this is the future of farming...

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene tested more than 3000 samples of consumer products during lead poisoning case investigations recently  and almost 40% of the samples had very elevated levels of lead. The highest concentrations of lead were found in spices purchased in the countries Georgia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Morocco. Make sure you ask where the spices are from before you buy. From: J Public Health Manag Pract. 2019 Jan/Feb;25 Suppl 1, Lead Poisoning Prevention:S63-S70.

An article in The Lancet, a respected medical journal, details how blood lead levels are a greater risk factor than smoking and all the other risk factors too like hypertension andsedentary lifestyle...but smoking. Seriously this is a big deal. Urinary heavy metals testing is the most accurate way to asses these metals. It should be done after a detox IV. STUDY: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30025-2/fulltext

Though not new, it is interesting to watch this video from the University of Calgary and how toxic mercury really is to the brain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8nSn5Ezd8